19 research outputs found
A study of the stylistic markers of the language of cartoons in Nigeria
No full textThis paper discusses the stylistic characteristics of the language of cartoons in some Nigerian newspapers. The analysis focuses on printing styles, stylistic registers, and textual features. The author concludes that the informal style (exemplified by the occurrence of Pidgin English, colloquial forms, loan blends, ellipsis, and telegraphic sentences) characterizes the language of the cartoons. Thus, cartoonists use language as an artistic medium in which various options of language are explored for effective communication
Etymology and the Development of L2 Vocabulary: The Case of ESL Students at the University of Botswana
Get PDFAbstract Part of the history of English is that many of its words are of Graeco-Latinate origin. Hence, the vocabulary of the language comprises words which are short and familiar and those which are foreign and long (Quirk,1978, p. 138). However, both L1 and L2 users have to get acquainted with the second group, which dominates academic discourse. Our students are disadvantaged on two grounds. Firstly, vocabulary instruction for them seems quite deficient in scope and depth, and secondly, the students tend to acquire the vocabulary of academic discourse necessary for their success in tandem with the learning of concepts which come incased in words they are unfamiliar with. Our paper uses data collected from the students' writing over a period of twenty years to examine their specific problems relating to the etymology of English words. Two questions are addressed: What problems does the etymology of English words pose for ESL students? What measures can be adopted to alleviate these problems? We discuss confused pairs of words, pairs erroneously considered synonymous, and coinage resulting from student's lack of appropriate vocabulary. We recommend that teaching the etymology of words used in academic discourse would assist our students to improve their fluency in English. Keywords: ESL, Botswana, vocabulary instruction, word origin, word structure, focus on form instruction The vocabulary of a language is the only part of it over which we can confidently assert that no single native speaker has total command. This is because the lexis is far vaster, and far less rigidly structured than other levels of language (Steven Dodd, 1993, p. 35)
The Creation of Students' Academic Slang Expressions in the University of Botswana
Get PDFThis study investigates the creation of students' academic slang expressions at the University of Botswana with data obtained from 32 items in a questionnaire consisting of 89 items. The semantic process of extension is the most widespread creative process, producing 101 (66%) out of 153 selected slang expressions. Five morphological processes, compounding, derivation, conversion, acronymy and reduplication, together produce the remaining 52 (34%) expressions. Also the process of semantic extension features in all aspects of the students' academic life in contrast with the other five morphological processes which are restricted. These findings show that the students draw extensively on and exploit the language resources at their disposal to create new meanings for describing their academic life. The findings also show that all the word formation processes highlighted relate to certain areas of the students' academic life, notably, the students' relationships with their lecturers, difficult courses and those who teach them, performances and grades
Effect of prepaid meters on the household expenditure on electricity consumption in Ondo state
Get PDFUnfair high electricity billing is a challenge to consumers in Nigerian electricity market and it exerts undue pressure on households who are Charged for electricity service that are not supplied by service providers through estimated billing. Customers loss income as a result of this problem. Whether the introduction of prepaid meter will bring succor to consumers is an empirical issue. The hypothesis that adoption of prepaid meter reduces household expenditure on electricity consumption was tested in this study. A total of 577 (362 males and 215 females) participants were drawn from 4 local governments area of Ondo State using multistage sampling techniques. The participants had a mean age of 46.93 years and standard deviation of 21.04 years. The study was analyzed using frequency count, means and percentages. Results showed that 70.72% of the participants witnessed a reduction in their electricity expenditures as a result of adoption of prepaid meter plan which was attributed to elimination of estimated bills and users embracing electricity conservative strategies. More so, about 82% of the participants expressed their preference for prepayment electricity plan over old metering system. The implications of the finding is that the distribution companies should make more prepaid meters available as there is willingness on the part of electricity subscribers to buy into the metering plan
You can try without visiting: a comprehensive survey on virtually try-on outfits
No full textSince the last years and until now technology has made fast progress for many industries in particularly garment industry which aims to follow consumer desires and demands One of these demands is to fit clothes before purchasing them on line Therefore many research works have been focused on how to develop an intelligent apparel industry to ensure the online shopping experience Image based virtual try on is among the most potential approach of virtual fitting that tries on target clothes into customer s image therefore it has received considerable research efforts in the recent years However there are several challenges involved in development of virtual try on that make it difficult to achieve naturally looking virtual outfit such as shape pose occlusion illumination cloth texture logo and text etc The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive and structured overview of extensive research on the advancement of virtual try on This review first introduces virtual try on and its challenges followed by its demand in fashion industry We summarize state of the art image based virtual try on for both fashion detection and fashion synthesis as well as their respective advantages drawbacks and guidelines for selection of specific try on model followed by its recent development and successful application Finally we conclude the paper with promising directions for future research 2022 The Author s under exclusive licence to Springer Science Business Media LLC part of Springer Natur
Tunable multiwavelength brillouin erbium fiber laser designs for high capacity optical communication system
Get PDFThis work presents the design and development of a single laser source for multiple wavelengths generation in C-band transmission window to meet the demand from optical communication systems for high transmission rate. The single laser source consists of Brillouin and erbium doped fiber (EDF) gain mediums. The combination of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) effect and EDF gain medium in the same laser cavity forms Brillouin erbium fiber laser (BEFL). The effect of SBS inside an optical fiber is used to initialize Stokes lines and the EDF gain medium is used to compensate the cavity loss as well as to enhance the BEFL performance. Based on the Brillouin-erbium combination, four novel laser configurations have been designed, namely BEFL with nonlinear fiber loop mirror (NOLM), with single pass amplified Brillouin pump (BP) power, with double pass post-amplified BP power and with virtual mirror. These configurations were developed to overcome substantial limitations in the existing BEFL system. One of the limitations of the conventional BEFL is the requirement for high threshold power to generate the first Stokes line and the requirement of high EDF pump power to generate a large number of Stokes lines. Therefore, it is a huge challenge to design a BEFL cavity to reduce these requirements. To address this problem, the author proposed the first system that is BEFL with NOLM. A low threshold power was achieved by utilizing the high reflectivity feature of NOLM. The developed BEFL with NOLM exhibited a low threshold power ranging from 2 mW to 3 mW and 26 stable Stokes lines with wavelength spacing of 0.089 nm (10.5 GHz), which were obtained at low EDF pump power of 25 mW. The second limitation of BEFL is the standard single mode fiber (SSMF) distance requirement for several kilometers or even longer to improve the number of Stokes lines generation. In this work, two new linear cavity BEFL configurations with amplified BP power techniques were successfully designed to enhance the number of Stokes lines in a short length of SSMF. In these configurations, the BP power is amplified once and twice in the EDF gain medium before inserting the Brillouin gain. The second and third configurations are based on single pass (SP) pre-amplified and double pass (DP) post-amplified BP power, respectively. Both BEFL based on SP and DP techniques have improved the number of Stokes lines generation inside the short length of SSMF. Up to 33 and 42 Stokes lines were generated inside SSMF length of 600 m by utilizing SP and DP techniques, respectively. Also, these techniques are able to suppress the built-up of the self lasing over a wide range. The main disadvantage of the conventional BEFL is the existence of self lasing cavity modes together with the generated Stokes lines as the Brillouin wavelength tuned away from the EDF peak gain. This undesirable self lasing limits the tuning range of the BEFL and number of Stokes lines as well. The fourth BEFL design is proposed with the concept of virtual mirror to eliminate the self lasing over a wide tuning range, which resulted in the improvement in the BEFL tuning range. Also, the new design improves the number of Stokes lines by inducing four wave mixing (FWM) inside the Brillouin gain medium. In this new BEFL configuration, the virtual mirror was utilized to prevent the self lasing cavity modes from circulating inside the cavity. Therefore, the generated Stokes lines were tuned throughout the whole C-band from 1532.2 nm to 1572.2 nm with the average number of 100 Stokes lines. Up to 160 channels can be tuned over a tuning range of 26 nm from 1539 nm to 1565 nm. The generated Stokes lines of this BEFL have wavelength spacing of 0.076 nm and individual peak powers of greater than -8 dBm for the first nine Stokes lines. In addition, this BEFL design overcomes the requirement of BP power adjustment in conjunction with the adjustment of the EDF pump power in the linear cavity. As a result, the tunability of the generated Stokes lines is limited only by amplification bandwidth of linear gain medium. Different design parameters such as EDF pump power, BP power, BP wavelength and SSMF length were used to characterize and optimize the four BEFL systems. The effects of these design parameters on the BEFL system performance such as threshold power, number of Stokes lines, total output power, self lasing cavity modes, stability and tuning range, have been analyzed and discussed
African women as news: a cross-cultural study
No full textThis thesis is concerned with the news construction of Africa, particularly African women in
British and Nigerian newspapers. Informed by feminist epistemology as well as postcolonial
theoretical perspectives, it explores the constitutive dynamics of race and gender as
identities, which both depict and define African women.
African women have historically been excluded from defining how they should talk and be
talked about in cultural forms. This thesis uses the news as a negotiating space for certain
African women [Nigerians] to participate in defining what it is to be an African woman. In
doing this, the thesis serves a political end of giving 'voice' to African women as well as
creates a form of dialogue between Western (British) women and African (Nigerian) women.
This dialogue is crucial in feminism because the tensions, diversities and differences inherent
in feminist debates have made meaningful conversations between women difficult. This
study thus steps across cultures by offering a space for a cross-cultural dialogue on news
constructs of African women's femininity.
The thesis employs both quantitative and qualitative methods, which combine an analysis of
texts and group discussions. In this study, I have conducted a symptomatic analysis of British
and Nigerian newspapers during 2002, drawing on cultural studies tradition of textual
analysis. Reflexive dimensions are an integral part of the whole research process. As a black
African Nigerian woman in Britain, I embody some of the tensions and contradictions that
characterise feminist cultural debates. This situation positions me squarely as the bridge
between two cultures - as the pipe though which the words of one is carried to the other.
This role is reflected in the thesis as my reflexive thoughts about the tensions and
contradictions spread spasmodically throughout the thesis.
By speaking and negotiating across cultures, this thesis provides an avenue for smoothening
the tense relations existing between Western and African feminists and thus creates an
opportunity for the possibilities of commonalities as well as an ethical relation with 'the other'
